Going Places, Doing Things

So it's been a few weeks since my last post and a lot has happened! The week before last I went to New Market and Chandi Chowk, which are both part of a very huge and very crowded shopping district in central Dhaka. Shopping around in the narrow stuffy corridors of Chandi Chowk, felt like the real Bangladesh. The day was exhausting and extremely intense, but I was able to buy a gold nose ring and beautiful silk for new shalwar chemise (with the help of my Bangla-speaking friend and her mad bargaining skills). It was quite a day!

This past week was incredibly busy as Lauren (the other ETA) I had an orientation where we visited different Bangladeshi schools in order to get a sense of the education system. We first visited a girl's madrassa ( a Muslim school), which was very interesting. The school used to be an orphanage and was actually the first girl's madrassa in Bangladesh (typically they are only for boys). While the school's resources and quality of English education were not the greatest, the girls were obviously bright, extremely enthusiastic, and very sweet. We also visited two private schools (Scholastica and Viqarunnisa). These schools were huge, well-funded, and obviously catered to the Bangladeshi elite. Throughout the week I was able to recognize the huge range in educational opportunities and resources in Bangladesh, as in the U.S.

On Tuesday of last week I went on a field trip with the BLI (where I'm taking Bangla classes). We went to the Red Fort also called Lalbagh in Bangla (literally meaning red garden). It is a 17th-century Mughal palace and it's really beautiful. The day was really fun and it was great to see a little bit of Bangladesh's history. This was also my first trip into Old Dhaka!





On Wednesday I took my first trip out of Dhaka to visit Shaturia, the village where I'll be living for 6 months, beginning in January. It took us 3 hours to get to Shaturia (mainly because of the insane traffic in Dhaka and because of the road quality around Shaturia). Once we got there it was a bit of a shock. I knew that it would be rural, but I did not realize just how rural. Shaturia is approximately 30min from the nearest town. The village is comprised mostly of farmland and houses made out of tin (we are lucky enough to live in an apartment in a relatively nice government complex). There are no restaurants or shops apart from the roadside stalls. Anything besides basic groceries (like fruits, vegetables, and rice) will need to be purchased in the nearest town. We have yet to figure out how we will get clean drinking water (which may have to come from the nearest town Manikganj). Needless to say, things will be very different in Shaturia compared to my comfortable privileged life here in Dhaka.

This is not to say that I'm feeling completely negative about my village stay. The landscape in Shaturia is absolutely gorgeous. The school where I'll be teaching is very beautiful and the principle of the school has been trained to teach English in the U.S. She is honestly amazing and is absolutely willing to do everything in her power so that we have a good experience. We will be teaching grades 6-9 and will teach for about 6 hours a week. Class sizes are substantially larger than in the U.S., usually between 60-80 students! Although this is a little intimidating, the girls are polite, incredibly sweet, and very excited to have us. Right now the thing I'm most excited about is teaching the girls and getting to know them. I guess the rest will figure itself out.

So, skipping forward a little bit, I went on a really fun day trip to Srimongol (near Sylhet in NE Bangladesh, which is where all of the tea in Bangladesh is grown) with some Fulbright friends and one of our teachers from BLI. We left early in the morning and arrived at Lawachara National Park by around 10am. The park was absolutely gorgeous and jungle-y. We were greeted by a very social monkey who proceeded to follow us around for a few minutes. We went on a really beautiful hike and encountered approximately 20 of the largest spiders I've ever seen -they were literally larger than my entire hand! As if that wasn't scary enough, they were so close to the path that I had to keep my eyes peeled to ensure I didn't walk into them (we had a few close calls).

After our hike we drove to one of the tea estates and made a little picnic for ourselves in a pathway amidst the tea plants. We were having a great lunch, when we were suddenly interrupted by a herd of cows heading straight for us. We moved out of the way as they passed by, and especially enjoyed a few calves that were running to catch up with the herd (they were adorable!). The tea estate was comprised of lovely rolling hillsides covered in tea bushes and tall trees. It was serene and probably the most beautiful thing I've seen since I've been here. So that's about it for now. More to come soon...